SEA-HELM
Models are evaluated in Filipino, Indonesian, Tamil, Thai and Vietnamese across five pillars: NLP classics, LLM-specific tasks, linguistics, culture and safety.
HELM releases v1.0.0 (2025-03-17) to v1.2.0 (2025-04-18). AI Singapore also keeps its own SEA-HELM board.
In the authors’ words
With the rapid emergence of novel capabilities in Large Language Models (LLMs), the need for rigorous multilingual and multicultural benchmarks that are integrated has become more pronounced. Though existing LLM benchmarks are capable of evaluating specific capabilities of LLMs in English as well as in various mid- to low-resource languages, including those in the Southeast Asian (SEA) region, a comprehensive and culturally representative evaluation suite for the SEA languages has not been developed thus far. Here, we present SEA-HELM, a holistic linguistic and cultural LLM evaluation suite that emphasises SEA languages, comprising five core pillars: (1) NLP Classics, (2) LLM-specifics, (3) SEA Linguistics, (4) SEA Culture, (5) Safety. SEA-HELM currently supports Filipino, Indonesian, Tamil, Thai, and Vietnamese. We also introduce the SEA-HELM leaderboard, which allows users to understand models' multilingual and multicultural performance in a systematic and user-friendly manner. We make the SEA-HELM evaluation code publicly available.
- Level
- School Students, from grade school to high school
- Scored
- Checked automatically A program checks the result against an answer key, unit tests or the expected final state.
- Answers
- Short answer A number, word or short string matched to a key.
Gemini 3.1 Pro leads with 77.4 among models released by Sep 2026
Best score per entry from the benchmark's own leaderboard, read on 2 Nov 2026. Where a model ran with several settings or harnesses, we keep its best. Every run is in the next chart. Names in gray aren't in our model list: fine-tunes, agent systems, products and older models. They don't count toward leaders.
The newest model with a score here came out in Sep 2026, and nobody has tested a newer one. Among the 20 highest-ranked models on the capability index, these have no score yet:
- Claude Opus 5.5
- GPT-6.1 Terra
- GPT-6.1 Sol
- Claude Sonnet 5.5
- and 11 more
- 77.4
Gemini 3.1 Pro
- 77.3
Gemini 3.8 Flash
- 77.0 GPT-5.6 Sol
- 76.9 GPT-6 Astra
- 76.4
Gemini 3.6 Flash
- 76.3 GPT-5.5
- 76.3
Gemini 3.5 Flash
- 76.2
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B
- 76.2
Gemma 4 31B IT
- 76.0 GPT-5.4
- 75.6 Claude Opus 4.8
- 75.5 GPT-5.6 Terra
- 75.3
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
- 74.8
Gemma 4 26B A4B
- 74.7
Qwen3.5-122B-A10B
- 74.6
Qwen3.6 27B
- 74.2
Qwen3.5-27B
- 74.1 Claude Sonnet 4.6
- 74.0 GLM-5.2
- 73.9
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B
- 73.8 Claude Sonnet 5
- 73.5
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B
- 73.2 Qwen-SEA-LION-v4.5-27B-IT
- 73.0 Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
- 72.8 GPT-5.4 Mini
- 72.6
DeepSeek-V4-Pro
- 72.3
MiniMax-M3
- 72.1
Muse Glimmer
- 72.1 GPT-5.6 Luna
- 71.5
Inkling-Small
- 71.5 GLM-4.7
- 71.3
Inkling
- 71.0
Qwen3-VL-235B-A22B-Instruct
- 69.8
DeepSeek-V4-Flash
- 69.3
Gemma 4 12B
- 69.1
Qwen3.5-9B
- 68.3 Qwen-SEA-LION-v4-32B-IT
- 67.7
Qwen3-32B
- 67.0 Qwen3-VL-32B-Instruct
- 66.9 GLM-5.1
- 66.3
Gemma 4 E4B
- 66.1 gpt-oss-120b
- 64.9 Claude Haiku 4.5
- 64.8
Qwen3-14B
- 64.7
Mistral Medium 3.5
- 64.5
Gemma 3 27B
- 64.3 Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT
- 64.1
Nemotron 3 Ultra
- 63.8
Qwen3.5-4B
- 63.7 Llama-SEA-LION-v3-70B-IT
- 63.4 Nemotron-SEA-LION-v4.8-120B-A12B
- 63.4
Llama 4 Scout
- 62.4
Gemma 3 12B
- 61.3
Llama 4 Maverick
- 60.6 gpt-oss-20b
- 60.4
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
- 60.3
Qwen3-8B
- 59.2 Gemma-SEA-LION-v4.5-E2B-IT
- 58.8
Gemma 4 E2B
- 56.7
Command A+
- 56.6 Qwen3-VL-8B-Instruct
- 56.5 Gemma-SEA-LION-v3-9B-IT
- 56.4 Qwen-SEA-LION-v4-8B-VL
- 55.2 Apertus-v1.5-70B
- 54.9 Llama-SEA-LION-v3.5-8B-R
- 54.2 Apertus-v1.5-8B
- 53.8 glm-4.7-flash
- 52.2 Qwen-SEA-LION-v4-4B-VL
- 52.2 Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-4B-VL
- 52.1
Mistral Small 4
- 51.6 Nemotron-SEA-LION-v4.8-30B-A3B
- 50.4 Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct
- 49.3
Nemotron 3 Super
- 48.7 Llama-SEA-LION-v3-8B-IT
- 47.8
Gemma 3 4B
- 46.9
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B-A3B
- 46.1
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B
- 44.1 MERaLiON-2-10B
- 40.9
Olmo 3.1 32B Instruct
- 37.2
Llama 3.1-8B
- 36.9 Apertus-SEA-LION-v4-8B-IT
- 32.6
Apertus 70B
- 27.5 Apertus-8B-Instruct-2509
- 25.1
Llama 3.2 3B
- 20.0 MERaLiON-2-3B
- 19.8 tiny-aya-water
- 19.2 tiny-aya-global
- 1
Gemini 3.1 Pro 77.4
- 2
Gemini 3.8 Flash 77.3
- 3 GPT-5.6 Sol 77.0
- 4 GPT-6 Astra 76.9
- 5
Gemini 3.6 Flash 76.4
- 6 GPT-5.5 76.3
- 7
Gemini 3.5 Flash 76.3
- 8
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B thinking 76.2
- 9
Gemma 4 31B IT thinking 76.2
- 10 GPT-5.4 76.0
- 11 Claude Opus 4.8 75.6
- 12 GPT-5.6 Terra 75.5
- 13
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite 75.3
- 14
Gemma 4 26B A4B thinking 74.8
- 15
Qwen3.5-122B-A10B thinking 74.7
- 16
Qwen3.6 27B thinking 74.6
- 17
Qwen3.5-27B thinking 74.2
- 18 Claude Sonnet 4.6 74.1
- 19 GLM-5.2 74.0
- 20
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B thinking 73.9
- 21 Claude Sonnet 5 73.8
- 22
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B thinking 73.5
- 23 Qwen-SEA-LION-v4.5-27B-IT thinking 73.2
- 24 Qwen3.8-Flash-Next 73.0
- 25 GPT-5.4 Mini 72.8
- 26
DeepSeek-V4-Pro 72.6
- 27
MiniMax-M3 72.3
- 28
Muse Glimmer 72.1
- 29 GPT-5.6 Luna 72.1
- 30
Inkling-Small 71.5
- 31 GLM-4.7 thinking 71.5
- 32
Inkling 71.3
- 33
Qwen3-VL-235B-A22B-Instruct 71.0
- 34
DeepSeek-V4-Flash thinking 69.8
- 35
Gemma 4 12B thinking 69.3
- 36
Qwen3.5-9B thinking 69.1
- 37 Qwen-SEA-LION-v4-32B-IT 68.3
- 38
Qwen3-32B 67.7
- 39 Qwen3-VL-32B-Instruct 67.0
- 40 GLM-5.1 66.9
- 41
Gemma 4 E4B thinking 66.3
- 42 gpt-oss-120b 66.1
- 43 Claude Haiku 4.5 64.9
- 44
Qwen3-14B 64.8
- 45
Mistral Medium 3.5 thinking 64.7
- 46
Gemma 3 27B 64.5
- 47 Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT 64.3
- 48
Nemotron 3 Ultra thinking 64.1
- 49
Qwen3.5-4B thinking 63.8
- 50 Llama-SEA-LION-v3-70B-IT 63.7
- 51 Nemotron-SEA-LION-v4.8-120B-A12B 63.4
- 52
Llama 4 Scout 63.4
- 53
Gemma 3 12B 62.4
- 54
Llama 4 Maverick 61.3
- 55 gpt-oss-20b 60.6
- 56
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct 60.4
- 57
Qwen3-8B 60.3
- 58 Gemma-SEA-LION-v4.5-E2B-IT thinking 59.2
- 59
Gemma 4 E2B thinking 58.8
- 60
Command A+ 56.7
- 61 Qwen3-VL-8B-Instruct 56.6
- 62 Gemma-SEA-LION-v3-9B-IT 56.5
- 63 Qwen-SEA-LION-v4-8B-VL 56.4
- 64 Apertus-v1.5-70B 55.2
- 65 Llama-SEA-LION-v3.5-8B-R 54.9
- 66 Apertus-v1.5-8B 54.2
- 67 glm-4.7-flash thinking 53.8
- 68 Qwen-SEA-LION-v4-4B-VL 52.2
- 69 Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-4B-VL 52.2
- 70
Mistral Small 4 52.1
- 71 Nemotron-SEA-LION-v4.8-30B-A3B 51.6
- 72 Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct 50.4
- 73
Nemotron 3 Super thinking 49.3
- 74 Llama-SEA-LION-v3-8B-IT 48.7
- 75
Gemma 3 4B 47.8
- 76
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B-A3B thinking 46.9
- 77
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B 46.1
- 78 MERaLiON-2-10B 44.1
- 79
Olmo 3.1 32B Instruct 40.9
- 80
Llama 3.1-8B 37.2
- 81 Apertus-SEA-LION-v4-8B-IT 36.9
- 82
Apertus 70B 32.6
- 83 Apertus-8B-Instruct-2509 27.5
- 84
Llama 3.2 3B 25.1
- 85 MERaLiON-2-3B 20.0
- 86 tiny-aya-water 19.8
- 87 tiny-aya-global 19.2
| # | Entry | Score | Setting | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 77.4 | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 2 | | 77.3 | Sep 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 3 | GPT-5.6 Sol | 77.0 | Jul 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 4 | GPT-6 Astra | 76.9 | Sep 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 5 | | 76.4 | Jul 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 6 | GPT-5.5 | 76.3 | Apr 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 7 | | 76.3 | May 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 8 | | 76.2 | thinking | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 9 | | 76.2 | thinking | Apr 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 10 | GPT-5.4 | 76.0 | Mar 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 11 | Claude Opus 4.8 | 75.6 | May 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 12 | GPT-5.6 Terra | 75.5 | Jul 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 13 | | 75.3 | Mar 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 14 | | 74.8 | thinking | Apr 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 15 | | 74.7 | thinking | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 16 | | 74.6 | thinking | Apr 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 17 | | 74.2 | thinking | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 18 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | 74.1 | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 19 | GLM-5.2 | 74.0 | Jun 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 20 | | 73.9 | thinking | Apr 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 21 | Claude Sonnet 5 | 73.8 | Jun 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 22 | | 73.5 | thinking | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 23 | Qwen-SEA-LION-v4.5-27B-IT | 73.2 | thinking | Official leaderboard | |
| 24 | Qwen3.8-Flash-Next | 73.0 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 25 | GPT-5.4 Mini | 72.8 | Mar 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 26 | | 72.6 | Apr 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 27 | | 72.3 | Jun 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 28 | | 72.1 | Aug 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 29 | GPT-5.6 Luna | 72.1 | Jul 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 30 | | 71.5 | Jul 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 31 | GLM-4.7 | 71.5 | thinking | Dec 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 32 | | 71.3 | Jul 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 33 | | 71.0 | Sep 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 34 | | 69.8 | thinking | Apr 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 35 | | 69.3 | thinking | Jun 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 36 | | 69.1 | thinking | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 37 | Qwen-SEA-LION-v4-32B-IT | 68.3 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 38 | | 67.7 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 39 | Qwen3-VL-32B-Instruct | 67.0 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 40 | GLM-5.1 | 66.9 | Apr 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 41 | | 66.3 | thinking | Mar 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 42 | gpt-oss-120b | 66.1 | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 43 | Claude Haiku 4.5 | 64.9 | Oct 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 44 | | 64.8 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 45 | | 64.7 | thinking | Apr 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 46 | | 64.5 | Mar 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 47 | Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT | 64.3 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 48 | | 64.1 | thinking | Jun 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 49 | | 63.8 | thinking | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 50 | Llama-SEA-LION-v3-70B-IT | 63.7 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 51 | Nemotron-SEA-LION-v4.8-120B-A12B | 63.4 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 52 | | 63.4 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 53 | | 62.4 | Mar 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 54 | | 61.3 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 55 | gpt-oss-20b | 60.6 | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 56 | | 60.4 | Dec 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 57 | | 60.3 | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 58 | Gemma-SEA-LION-v4.5-E2B-IT | 59.2 | thinking | Official leaderboard | |
| 59 | | 58.8 | thinking | Mar 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 60 | | 56.7 | May 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 61 | Qwen3-VL-8B-Instruct | 56.6 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 62 | Gemma-SEA-LION-v3-9B-IT | 56.5 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 63 | Qwen-SEA-LION-v4-8B-VL | 56.4 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 64 | Apertus-v1.5-70B | 55.2 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 65 | Llama-SEA-LION-v3.5-8B-R | 54.9 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 66 | Apertus-v1.5-8B | 54.2 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 67 | glm-4.7-flash | 53.8 | thinking | Jan 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 68 | Qwen-SEA-LION-v4-4B-VL | 52.2 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 69 | Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-4B-VL | 52.2 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 70 | | 52.1 | Mar 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 71 | Nemotron-SEA-LION-v4.8-30B-A3B | 51.6 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 72 | Qwen3-VL-4B-Instruct | 50.4 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 73 | | 49.3 | thinking | Mar 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 74 | Llama-SEA-LION-v3-8B-IT | 48.7 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 75 | | 47.8 | Mar 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 76 | | 46.9 | thinking | Dec 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 77 | | 46.1 | Aug 2026 | Official leaderboard | |
| 78 | MERaLiON-2-10B | 44.1 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 79 | | 40.9 | Dec 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 80 | | 37.2 | Jul 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 81 | Apertus-SEA-LION-v4-8B-IT | 36.9 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 82 | | 32.6 | Sep 2025 | Official leaderboard | |
| 83 | Apertus-8B-Instruct-2509 | 27.5 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 84 | | 25.1 | Sep 2024 | Official leaderboard | |
| 85 | MERaLiON-2-3B | 20.0 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 86 | tiny-aya-water | 19.8 | Official leaderboard | ||
| 87 | tiny-aya-global | 19.2 | Official leaderboard |
Scores at each effort level
Models the leaderboard ran at two or more effort levels. We don’t have enough cost data here to say what the extra effort costs.
7 models have held number one since its release in Feb 2025
Lab claims count from the day the card came out, independent runs from the model’s release.
Scores over time
All the scores we have, one dot each, so a model tested at several settings appears more than once.
No lab model card reports it yet
We read the headline results of 479 launch posts from 51 labs, and none of them list this benchmark.
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